Ashland County May Consider Banning Explosives Near Rocks With Asbestos

The Ashland County Board may consider a ban on explosives that disturb asbestos in rock formations, including at the proposed iron ore mine site.

Ashland County Board Chairman Pete Russo says he’s getting lots of calls from citizens who are worried about asbestos and mesothelioma, a fatal lung cancer caused by airborne asbestos fibers. Recent reports by Northland College geoscience professor Tom Fitz and the Department of Natural Resources have found that asbestos fibers are in at least part of the ore body that Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) hopes to mine.

The DNR says it needs more information before they know if that ore body is dangerous, while Fitz calls the asbestos lethal.

Russo has called a special meeting of the Mining Impact Committee Wednesday, which will hear testimony from Fitz and the DNR. Then, he says, the committee will consider an ordinance which would ban using explosives on asbestos rock.

“If you’re going to blast, if you do, you’d better have a way of capturing that asbestos so it does not get in the air around here and the air quality gets ruined,” says Russo. “I don’t know how that’s going to happen.”

GTAC spokesman Bob Seitz says a county ordinance isn’t needed, saying there are protections in place when a company mines an area that has asbestos deposits.

“What we would have to do is demonstrate the likelihood of running into it, and then demonstrate what we would do for safety precautions for the public and for workers,” says Seitz. “If we can’t be safe that way, we don’t get a permit.”

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and OSHA have asbestos exposure guidelines, but are not available for comment because of the partial federal government shutdown.

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